On a crowded dancefloor, where illicit substances, pheromones, and hypnotic beats blur, it’s hard to tell if it’s the drugs or the person standing in front of you that’s making you euphoric. “I’m going on clean,” Harry Styles repeats in the first verse of “Aperture,” the first single from Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally., after admitting that he falls quickly when under the influence. You’d expect him to return with a dopamine rush, but his first single since Harry’s House is a five-minute slow burn, a new pace he’s exploring romantically.
The new album, Styles says, was inspired in part by seeing LCD Soundsystem perform, and the “Aperture” instrumental is purely MPC—a synth that drones, a synth that glitches, and a bassline pulse. It’s a stark departure from the acoustic guitar plucks and somber piano strokes heard across Styles’ three prior albums. Throughout his nearly two-year Love On Tour, Styles’ live band became part of his showman persona; their absence heightens the song’s melancholy and intimacy. It’s in the moment of quiet reflection that Styles decides that enduring love is worth the discomfort of having your truths laid bare.
The payoff in the back half of this track isn’t quite as rewarding as, say, the gospel-esque final act of “Lights Up.” The chorus of “We belong together” in “Aperture” even sounds a bit defeated, like fifth-graders in choir class. Kid Harpoon’s accelerating synths, streaking like laser lights, carry a lot of the emotional lift, counterbalancing Styles’ subdued delivery. He’s 32 now and haunted by how fast time is passing: “Time won’t wait on me,” he muses, “I wanna know what safe is.” It’s as if he’d stumbled on the memoir of the adrenaline-junkie rock star he once imagined he’d become and started to realize that might be a miserable way to live.
